Yet so slow is the official mind, that the rings still lingered in some of the cells.
The plank bed is constructed of three eight-inch deals, held together laterally by transverse wooden bars, which serve to lift it two or three inches from the floor.

At the head there is a raised portion of flat wood, slightly sloping, to serve as a bolster.

For the first month (such is Sir Richard Cross's brilliant idea) every prisoner, no matter what his age or his offence, must sleep on this plank bed without a mattress, unless the doctor sees a special reason for ordering him one.

During the second month he sleeps on the plank bed three nights a week, and during the third month one night.

Sleeps! The very word is a mockery.